


Juni Cortez is a Callous Little Fool

by ArgentDandelion



Category: Spy Kids (Movies)
Genre: Disability, Essays, Gen, Identity, Identity Reveal, Meta, Nonfiction, Online Relationship, Physical Disability, Spy Kids Game Over, Video & Computer Games, Virtual Reality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-22
Updated: 2019-10-22
Packaged: 2021-01-02 12:07:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21161411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArgentDandelion/pseuds/ArgentDandelion
Summary: Covers Juni's foolishness in being so mean to three people who helped save his sister from the Toymaker.





	Juni Cortez is a Callous Little Fool

In Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over, Juni Cortez, retired kid superspy, learns his sister Carmen is held captive by the Toymaker, an evil ex-operative banished to cyberspace. To save Carmen and stop the Toymaker’s schemes, he enters the Toymaker’s game, the mega-popular virtual-reality video game Game Over.

When Juni enters the game, he meets three beta testers: cool guy Rez, smart guy Francis, and tough, strong guy Arnold, who eventually choose to help him upon believing he’s “The Guy”, a figure who can help them reach the supposedly unwinnable final level of the game. Later on, the OSS, a superspy agency, offers to send in one person to help him. Juni chooses his grandpa (Valentin), once a superspy himself who had been paraplegic and wheelchair-bound for 30 years. The recurring opponent Demetra later joins their group, evasively offering her “intuition” along with the others’ brains, coolness, and strength.

But when he meets Rez, Francis, and Arnold in the “real world” near the end of the film, they don’t look as they do in the game. To this, Juni looks at them scornfully and says, “Reality check.”

Juni Cortez is a callous little fool.

* * *

## Evidence

**Section 1: Valentin** When Juni asks for a lifeline, his father, mother, grandpa (Valentin) and uncle. The system lists out the candidates’ various pros and cons; his grandpa’s pro is briefly listed as "strategic”. When Juni asks about his grandpa, it is said he’s “physically disabled” with slow emphasis. (The OSS actually accepts the choice without complaint, only questioning Juni’s decision once they learn the Toymaker is Valentin’s old nemesis.)

Very soon after Valentin enters the game, he gets a power-up, “Mega Legs”, which not only restores his long-lost ability to walk, but gives him incredible jumping ability and a shiny, armor-covered superheroic physique. Valentin’s great strength and mobility prove very handy for Juni and the group, and Juni turns to him for advice multiple times.

Near the end of the game, Valentin is reluctant to leave for the real world. In Game Over, he can walk and run, and Juni looks at him like he’s “some kind of super hero”, but in the real world, he’ll be confined to a wheelchair. He agrees to go back in Juni promises him he’ll look at Valentin no differently than in the game, for, even though he’ll be in a wheelchair, on the inside Valentin feels like “this” (presumably a superheroic figure).

**Section 2: Programmers**

One level, the group knows some programmers are around; Francis describes them as “the braniacs who wrote the book for the game”. As they’ll bounce them back to Level 1 to catch them as a consequence of earlier cheating, the group scatters to avoid them. However, they find Juni after he and Demetra consult a forbidden map of the whole game. The programmers menacingly taunt Juni, instantly making him lose one of his lives as they taunt him. Scared, Juni calls out for his grandpa:

> **Programmers:** “Listen to that, E-Dawg. ‘The Guy’ is calling his grandpa._[Sarcastically]_ I’m so scared.” “What’s he gonna do? Drool on us?”  
(Valentin dramatically steps in from behind and picks them up by the scruffs of their necks) **Valentin:** “You are programmers? Let’s see what you really look like.”

Francis scans them to reveal their real appearances, showing 1980s-Microsoft-employee-style dorks. Valentin deems them “very unimpressive” and Rez snarkily calls them “computer nerds”.[1](https://argentdandelion.tumblr.com/post/188524764495/juni-cortez-is-a-callous-little-fool-author#fn:1)

**Section 3: Demetra**

Demetra was Juni’s opponent in a robot arena, and later tried to stop him, twice, in the Mega Race. (i.e., the world’s most intense game of Virtual Reality Mario Kart) Later, she joins the group, offering her “intuition”. When one of the game’s challenges pit Juni and Arnold against each other for the group to progress, with the loser being removed from the game, Juni fares poorly. Demetra swaps herself with Juni, sacrificing herself so Juni can go rescue his sister.

The beta testers try to “kill” (make him lose all his game lives) Juni and his sister, out of the belief Juni is “The Deceiver”, a figure in the game who tricks players and keeps them from getting to Level 5 and its “untold riches”. When they change their minds and enter Level 5, Demetra soon re-appears. Carmen confidently states Demetra isn’t real, slicing through her to expose her as just a hologram. She’s the Deceiver, an AI whose purpose was to hinder them. Juni doesn’t share Carmen’s scorn. It turns out Demetra had developed a crush on Juni, and helps them all to escape as the Toymaker tries to trap them in the game.

* * *

##  **Juni Cortez Neglecting the Evidence**

In the real world, the spy agency tracks down Rez, Francis, and Arnold from their email addresses and brings them in front of Juni. Juni still looks pretty cool as pudgy-faced preteens go, but, shockingly, the beta testers look nothing like they do in real life. Francis has no glasses and has a biker jacket, Rez looks like a 1980s Microsoft-employee-style dork, and Arnold has glasses.

> **Juni:** “What happened to Francis the Brain, Arnold the Strong, and Mr. Cool?”  
**Francis:** “Well, in the real world, I’m not that smart.”  
**Arnold:** “I’m not strong.“  
**Rez:** “I’m not cool.”

To this, Juni just looks at them with an expression that morphs from shock, to bafflement, and then scorn, and dismissively says: "Reality check.” (When his grandpa is within earshot, no less)

One might want to cut Juni some slack; he’s 12, at most. Yet, Juni Cortez says this even though he’s seen Francis being smart (reading through the tech manual and reporting on it), Arnold being strong (catapulting another player out of a car, attacking him, _being acknowledged as the “strongest player”_) and Rez being cool. (being unflappable and leading the other two) Worse, he says this despite knowing Demetra was more than her programming…and despite just having promised his grandpa he would look at him no differently in the real world even when confined to a wheelchair.

Admittedly, they did try to “kill” (in a video game sense) him and Carmen before reaching Level 5, out of the belief Juni was The Deceiver. They were also initially unfriendly to him, telling him to get to the next level in a way that was effective but made him lose a life, and only agreed to follow him and help him upon proving he was “The Guy” in the very dangerous Mega Race. On the other hand, the previous film shows he already holds his grandpa in high regard, and though Demetra was twice his opponent, her actions weren’t any worse than someone showing off skill in a competitive video game. (e.g., Mario Kart or Street Fighter)

Valentin’s reluctance to leave Game Over parallels that of a real person: Ibelin Redmoore. (or, rather, Mats Steen).[2](https://argentdandelion.tumblr.com/post/188524764495/juni-cortez-is-a-callous-little-fool-author#fn:2) Mats Steen had Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a fatal genetic disorder that rendered him slumping, atrophied, and wheelchair-bound, a la the physicist Stephen Hawking. He found solace in the massively multi-player game World of Warcraft, where everyone saw him as his avatar/alter-ego, the handsome detective nobleman Ibelin Redmoore.

A friend of his in World of Warcraft, Kai Simon, said at his funeral:

“I met Mats in a world where it doesn’t matter a bit who you are, what kind of body you have, or how you look in reality, behind the keyboard.”

Had Juni known Ibelin Redmoore…what would he have said?

* * *

(Trivia: Originally, I was going to write something about Spy Kids 3D, appropos of nothing, as an April Fool’s Day joke earlier this year. This is just the rewritten version of the nearly-complete joke update.)

* * *

  1. Which, in retrospect, is a ridiculous thing to say. He and the others love video games so much they’re beta testers for a new virtual-reality video game in _2003_, before video games were as "mainstream” and respected as they are now. Indeed, one could call _Francis_ a nerd for his brainy mannerisms and glasses. Though…knowing Rez looks similar to one of the programmers in real life, perhaps he says this out of self-hating insecurity? [↩︎](https://argentdandelion.tumblr.com/post/188524764495/juni-cortez-is-a-callous-little-fool-author#fnref:1)

  2. [Source: The BBC](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.com%2Fnews%2Fdisability-47064773&t=OTdjZjcyYWM3MzY4MjlhZDIwMzNmMzEzZDIzOGNhMTFlNGE0MGQ0NSxYOGt3d2ppbQ%3D%3D&b=t%3AHZZTbr56CX-Pu8cYzedJTw&p=https%3A%2F%2Fargentdandelion.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F188524764495%2Fjuni-cortez-is-a-callous-little-fool-author&m=1). [↩︎](https://argentdandelion.tumblr.com/post/188524764495/juni-cortez-is-a-callous-little-fool-author#fnref:2)

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on my [Tumblr](https://argentdandelion.tumblr.com/). Feel free to comment on this article there or here.


End file.
